Newsletter Archive

Issue 18 : Autumn 2004

Courtauld
Alumni Research Project

The starting point for this research project, carried
out by Ursula Rimbotti, a former Research Consultant with AEA Consulting,
on a full-time six-month basis, was the awareness that information available
on former students was scattered around the Courtauld and London University.
This is the first step in promoting more pro-active alumni relations. The
ultimate aim was to promote the Courtaulds sphere of influence in
order to strengthen its fundraising potential.

These are worthy objectives, especially in the context of the Courtaulds
change in constitutional status and recent changes in the higher education
sector. Higher education is experiencing the impact of increased competition
and fighting off the effects of declining core public funding.

The projects areas of interest have been the identification of
the degree, graduation year and course (for MA, Mphil and PhD alumni,
with dissertation title and course tutor), and identification of career
and current contact details.

The achievements of the project are the following: the database in the Development
Office can now retrieve alumni lists by course type and graduation year
for all former students from 1933 to the present. This information is valuable
in planning events and fundraising campaigns focusing on particular year
groups. As of Monday 14th June, 2004, we have a total of 5,363 individuals
registered as Courtauld alumni. We have detailed educational records for
4,113 (77%) of them, and 3,641 (88%) educational records entered and amended
on the database. 3,097 alumni have valid current addresses, 2,266 do not.

Where available, MA dissertation and Mphil and PhD thesis titles and
tutor names have been identified through the Book Library database catalogue
and the newsletter 'Alumnotes. We can identify tutor names for
1,785 alumni. 67% of alumni do not have tutor names identified. This
reflects the high proportion of undergraduates, occasional and research
students.

The careers of the top UK alumni have been tracked, along with their
relationships with arts organizations. As senior employees or board committee
members, Courtauld alumni have a total of 570 relationships with other
arts organisations
— we have souced 485 such relations. 9% of Courtauld alumni are
now in high executive and non-executive positions.

The aim is now to conclude the programme. In order to do this, it will be
vital to maintain regular communication between the Development Office and
the Academic Registry, source the remaining missing contact details, and
research the career details of those alumni for whom we have insufficient
data.